I have the opportunity to be one of the lucky few to try out the road version on reach from David @ Rad-Innovations.com the distributer of Reach. Here's my take.

1) Very user friendly once you get used to the taking apart and putting it together. Definitely need to be shown how to get it done efficiently.
2) Very ajustable Stems Handle & Seat. I am 5'10" there is still afew " of stem length left for the handle bar and tons left for the seat post.
3) Very smooth ride. I took it down to a paved trail in Richland WA. The famous Columbia River Trail that span the Tri city river front of Richland, Kennewick & Pasco. The Richland part is about 10 miles long with short interval of hill but mainly flat. The ride was smooth. The Shift was very resposive. The only annoying thing is the clicking coming from the front wheel area. Cover the round trip in <1 hour (go figure!).
The other two model I have not tried. I will give the report when I get a chance.
Here are some shots I took.http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m...t/DSCN1303.jpg

I hope this is not too much info. I am sure this will give a good alternative to Bike Friday at a very UN Bike Friday $$$$.

You've got to applaud any manufacturer who's trying to break into the high end folding bike market, but it seems a bike that "rides well" is not going to cut it anymore. Problem is, most bikes at the high end ride well and there are a slew of bikes in the mid to lower range which can ride just as well with few modifications and are cheaper. Don't know if Reach can make an impact here but we'll see. If they're trying to position themselves to take on Birdy or Dahon's Jetstream, they'll have to come up with a better price than what they've proposed. But frankly, I don't see them offering much more than what a Swift or Downtube offer, in terms of aluminum bikes of course.

After reading the initial review, I was very impressed. Then I realized that you have to take the front wheel off to get a decent fold. That seems kind of silly to me. Also, I don't want to diss anyone, but shopping for Birdys, I had one dealer tell me that Rad-Innovations is extremely flakey and they were no longer carrying the bike. I experienced this firsthand when I emailed to ask a question and they didn't get back to me.

The weird thing is that any distributor who has ever tried to distribute Birdies has never done it for very long in the U.S. I don't know why, but it seems R&M don't really care about the U.S. market; witness that hardly anyone has been able to get one of the new monocoque frames though they've debuted it for a few years now. Also, the price they sell for is a deal breaker for most since you're in the custom bike price range with their intro model.

If Burley dropped Birdy after distributing them for only a few years, then you know something is wrong. This was during Burley's heyday too when they had tremendous pull in the bike market.

The fork on your Reach bike is on BACKWARDS! The fork is a trailing link affair - not a leading link. The photos above all show the fork mounted backwards. That may have accounted for the "clicking" sound you heard during your ride.

Rad-Innovations is extremely flakey and they were no longer carrying the bike. I experienced this firsthand when I emailed to ask a question and they didn't get back to me.

pm you should try again and see. I believe RI is more of a whole sale distributor with retail effort in b/t. That might explain alot. IMHO Birdy is still the best over all folder in the market ,price not withstanding.